The present invention relates to an image or picture display apparatus used for preparation of a document and display of the prepared document, and more specifically to a picture display apparatus capable of displaying a picture substantially equal to a picture printed out therefrom.
Hitherto, a document preparation system including a data processing apparatus, such as a word processor or a personal computer, to which a printer is connected, has been used at offices or in the home.
In case of preparing documents by using such a system, it has been a general practice to prepare a document by a data processor while checking its form or style on its display, and print out the prepared documents by a printer.
However, such a conventional system has included a data processor display and a printer that exhibit remarkably different degrees of resolution. Accordingly, there results in a difference between a font on a display and a font printed out by a printer, so that a sentence displayed in one row on a display can be printed out in two rows in some cases. Further, in case where a photographic image is printed out as a document, some picture processing, such as enlargement or size reduction, is required accompanying the resolution difference. But in such a case, a deviation of several dots can occur depending on the image size and the ratio of enlargement/reduction, so that a photographic image displayed in one page on a display can be printed out in two pages in some cases.
In such a case where a displayed document and a corresponding printed-out document are deviated from each other, it becomes necessary to re-correct the document after printing out the document, thus encountering much difficulty in getting a desired document and wasting considerable amount of paper and time for printing out.
Some data processors have the capability of displaying an image to be printed out (hereinafter called a xe2x80x9cprinted-out imagexe2x80x9d) before the actual printing-out thereof, but as the display resolution is inferior to the printer resolution, the printed-out image cannot be displayed in detail, so that the above difficulty has not been solved as yet.
On the other hand, as the resolution of a printer becomes higher, a higher-definition display apparatus is desired. A liquid crystal panel has been used as a high-definition display apparatus for a data processor, and compared with a conventional liquid crystal panel having a definition on the order of 1600xc3x971200, a liquid crystal panel having a higher definition (e.g., 20000xc3x972000 or higher) is desired.
It has been a general practice that a high-definition liquid crystal panel requires display ICs, and an OS or an application software for a data processor adapted for such a high-definition use. Even if display ICs adapted for a high-resolution display are used, there may be encountered a difficulty that small characters become difficult to read if general-purpose application software is used.
A principal object of the present invention is to provide a picture display apparatus capable of reducing troubles in preparing a document to be printed and minimizing waste paper or time during the document preparation.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a picture display apparatus for displaying a document to be printed, capable of allowing a high-definition picture display without using ICs specifically adapted for high-resolution display.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a picture display apparatus capable of obviating a lowering in display quality when multi-purpose application software is used.
According to the present invention, there is provided a picture display apparatus, comprising: a data input means for inputting document data, a printer adapted for connection with the data input means so as to print out a picture based on the document data, and a picture display means connected to the data input means for displaying a picture based on the document data. The picture display means is adapted for displaying a picture that is substantially identical in shape and resolution to the picture to be printed out by the printer.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a picture display apparatus, comprising: data output means for outputting picture data for hard copies, a picture display means for displaying a picture based on the picture data, and a data conversion means disposed between and connected to said data output means. The picture display means converts the picture data outputted from the data output means into data adapted for display by the picture display means.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon consideration of the following description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.